Preschool-Age Children's Performance Expectations for Themselves and Another Child as a Function of the Incentive Value of Success and the Salience of Past Performance

Stipek, Deborah J.; Roberts, Theresa A.; Sanborn, Mary E.

doi:10.2307/1129773

Cited by 71 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 13 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Proposals that young children are prone to wishful thinking and to overestimating their capacities (Stipek et al, 1984) raise the possibility that even the youngest children had some interest in temporal comparison, but temporal outcome did not affect performance appraisal in Study 1 because of selfenhancing biases. This seems unlikely for several reasons.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In contrast, a study that used a familiar activity and more concrete outcome information found earlier use of SC (Morris & Nemcek, 1982). Another possibility, which can explain age differences in use of SC for self versus other appraisal, is that young children rate themselves high regardless of social outcome because of wishful thinking biases (Ruble et al, 1992;Stipek, Roberts, & Sanborn, 1984). Motivated biases increase with the incentive value of success (Stipek et al, 1984), but Butler (1990) suggested that they also emerge when information is difficult to process.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Another possibility, which can explain age differences in use of SC for self versus other appraisal, is that young children rate themselves high regardless of social outcome because of wishful thinking biases (Ruble et al, 1992;Stipek, Roberts, & Sanborn, 1984). Motivated biases increase with the incentive value of success (Stipek et al, 1984), but Butler (1990) suggested that they also emerge when information is difficult to process. Thus, one can venture that the degree to which young children use noncomparative, or self-enhancing, rather than systematic comparison strategies, and thus the degree to which they modify self-appraisal on the basis of social outcome information, will depend importantly on the complexity of the comparison involved.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Age Trends in the Use of Social and Temporal Comparison for Self‐Evaluation: Examination of a Novel Developmental Hypothesis

Butler¹

1998

Child Development

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Two studies tested the novel hypothesis that children use social comparison (SC) for self-appraisal at an earlier age than they do temporal comparison (TC). The effect of other's and of own prior outcome on performance and ability appraisal and on self-evaluative strategies was examined using simple tasks and outcome information. Results from 840 children at ages 4-8 confirmed that self-evaluative SC was similar over age. Even 4-to 5-year-olds rated themselves higher after doing better versus worse than another and explained their ratings in terms of explicit SC. Social failure undermined continuing motivation at all ages. In contrast, young children in TC conditions attended only to their last outcome, and comparisons between current and prior outcomes increased with age. Self-evaluative biases were marked at age 5-6 and for boys in SC conditions. Results clarify the role of cognitive and motivational factors in the development of SC and TC.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Age Trends in the Use of Social and Temporal Comparison for Self‐Evaluation: Examination of a Novel Developmental Hypothesis

Butler¹

1998

Child Development

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…But indulging in fantasies is not maladaptive for all students. Those who have lost their naive optimism (e.g., by unambiguous negative feedback, Oettingen, Little, Lindenberger, & Baltes, 1994;Stipek, Roberts, & Sanborn, 1984) should bene"t from indulging in fantasies as it leads to moderate goal commitment even in light of low expectations of success. Therefore, educators would be well-advised to encourage students with low expectations of success to fantasize positively about their future achievements.…”

Section: Applied Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effective self-regulation of goal attainment

Oettingen

Hönig

Gollwitzer

2000

International Journal of Educational Research

196

107

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Self-regulatory strategies of goal setting and goal striving are analyzed in three experiments. Experiment 1 uses fantasy realization theory (Oettingen, in: J. BrandstaK tter, R.M. Lerner (Eds.), Action and Self Development: ¹heory and Research through the¸ife Span, Sage Publications Inc, Thousand Oaks, CA, 1999, pp. 315}342) to analyze the self-regulatory processes of turning free fantasies about a desired future into binding goals. School children 8}12 years of age who had to mentally elaborate a desired academic future as well as present reality standing in its way, formed stronger goal commitments than participants solely indulging in the desired future or merely dwelling on present reality (Experiment 1). E!ective implementation of set goals is addressed in the second and third experiments (Gollwitzer, Am. Psychol. 54 (1999) 493}503). Adolescents who had to furnish a set educational goal with relevant implementation intentions (specifying where, when, and how they would start goal pursuit) were comparatively more successful in meeting the goal (Experiment 2). Linking anticipated situations with goal-directed behaviors (i.e., if}then plans) rather than the mere thinking about good opportunities to act makes implementation intentions facilitate action initiation (Experiment 3).Successful goal attainment demands completing two di!erent tasks. People have to "rst turn their desires into binding goals, and second they have to attain the set goal. Both tasks bene"t from self-regulatory strategies. In this article we describe a series of experiments with children, adolescents, and young adults that investigate self-regulatory processes facilitating e!ective goal setting and successful goal striving. The experimental studies investigate (1) di!erent routes to goal setting depending on how

show abstract

“…There is abundant evidence that preschool and early schoolaged children overestimate their own abilities on a broad range of cognitive tasks (e.g., Bjorklund, Gaultney, & Green, 1993;Schneider, 1991;Stipek & Mac Iver, 1989;Yussen & Levy, 1975), and in general think they are "smarter" than others think they are (e.g., Stipek, 1981Stipek, , 1984Stipek & Hoffman, 1980;Stipek, Roberts, & Sanborn, 1984). Stipek (1981Stipek ( , 1984 reported that young children's assessments of their schoolrelated abilities are quite high.…”

Section: Metacognitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of immaturity in human development.

Bjorklund¹

1997

Psychological Bulletin

316

186

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The possibility that infants' and young children's immature behaviors and cognitions are sometimes adaptive is explored and interpreted in terms of evolutionary theory. It is argued that developmental immaturity had an adaptive role in evolution and continues to have an adaptive role in human development. The role of developmental retardation in human evolution is discussed, followed by an examination of the relation between humans' extended childhood and brain plasticity. Behavioral neoteny, as exemplified by play, is examined, as are some potentially adaptive aspects of infants' perception and cognition that limit the amount of information they can process. Aspects of immature cognition during early childhood that may have some contemporaneous adaptive value are also discussed. It is proposed that viewing immaturity as sometimes adaptive to the developing child alters how children and their development are viewed.Nature wants children to be children before they are men. If we deliberately depart from this order, we shall get premature fruits which are neither ripe nor well flavored and which soon decay. We shall have youthful sages and grown up children. Childhood has ways of seeing, thinking, and feeling, peculiar to itself; nothing can be more foolish than to substitute our ways for them.-Jean Jacques RousseauPeople understandably tend to see development as being progressive: from immature and inefficient structures and functions to mature and efficient ones. Early, immature forms are seen as "unfinished" and incomplete versions of the adult; the child is a "work in progress." From this viewpoint, immaturity is a necessary evil, something that people must get through on their way to adulthood, where the "real show of humanity emerges on stage" (L. Thomas, 1993, p. 175). This is not an unreasonable view. A prolonged period of youth is necessary for humans. Humans, more than any other species, must survive by their wits; human communities are more complex and diverse than those of any other species, and this requires that they have not only a flexible intelligence to learn the conventions of their societies but also a long time to learn them. But the species's physical and cognitive development need not progress synchronously. Their prolonged bodily development could in theory be accompanied by rapid cognitive and social development. This would result in a physically dependent child who has the intellectual and social wherewithal to master the ways of the world.Portions of this article were presented at

show abstract

Preschool-Age Children's Performance Expectations for Themselves and Another Child as a Function of the Incentive Value of Success and the Salience of Past Performance

Cited by 71 publications

References 13 publications

Age Trends in the Use of Social and Temporal Comparison for Self‐Evaluation: Examination of a Novel Developmental Hypothesis

Age Trends in the Use of Social and Temporal Comparison for Self‐Evaluation: Examination of a Novel Developmental Hypothesis

Effective self-regulation of goal attainment

The role of immaturity in human development.

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About